Apple Macworld Announcements

[Jessterw]

For those that care... The keynote is still going on, but thus far we've got the following:

• New iPod remote and FM tuner *yawn*
• Mac OS X 10.4.4 update with new Dashboard widgets *yawn*
• iLife '06 with new blogging application and some nice new features for the other apps
• iWeb - a new do-it-yourself web publishing tool
• iWork '06
• iMac with dual core Intel
• Powerbooks are dead
• MacBook Pro with dual core Intel is the replacement

Update: Apple has updated their site with at least some of the new stuff. The byline that is sure to be picked apart, "What's an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than it's ever done in a PC"

[Umfriend]

"What's an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than it's ever done in a PC"

I don't know who thought that up, but if I did I'd congratulate her.

[Nowhere]

Now, bring out the Intel iBook.
I wonder if they'll be noticeably cheaper... (integrated, I guess, GFX and...everything, probably also using "cheap" singlecore CPUs (which could be simply "failed" at production duals) ought to do the trick...)

[Wombat]

Now, bring out the Intel iBook.

Eventually. Going this way is no doubt better for profit margins, and (I'd assume) low initial parts availability.

[Elie]

Why the heck didn't Apple go with the AMD 64 bit dual core chips is beyond me! They would have achieved 1.5x faster processing than any Intel as well as a true 64 bit architechture which Intel is yet to develope

[Tjalfe]

Why the heck didn't Apple go with the AMD 64 bit dual core chips is beyond me! They would have achieved 1.5x faster processing than any Intel as well as a true 64 bit architechture which Intel is yet to develope

I believe the Pentium M is still the better way to go for laptops to get good battery life, but I could be wrong there.

[Elie]

Yes true but it's still based on the Pentium 3 technology, you can now buy AMD 64 bit based notebooks with great results! Check out the Compaq's...

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks/compaq_presario&series_name=V5000Z_series&catLevel=2&tab_switch=true&tab=specs

[KeiFront]

Now, bring out the Intel iBook.

I guess it will be called "MacBook" without the Pro

No Firewire 800 anymore and it seems to be bloody expensive 2179€ (2,629$) but I can't really check the belgium apple store it's still closed but 2179€ is mentioned on the Macbook ad.

@Elie
I guess Apple got convinced by Intel's future road map, but you never know maybe we will see an AMD Mac in the future?

[Wombat]

Why the heck didn't Apple go with the AMD 64 bit dual core chips is beyond me! They would have achieved 1.5x faster processing than any Intel as well as a true 64 bit architechture which Intel is yet to develope

No confusion necessary. This chip will be a Yonah dual-core, so probably pretty fast while being low-power. Plus, Apple is using Palladium to keep OS X off of non-Apples, and I doubt AMD was ready to support it. Third, Intel can do ALL of the chips if necessary, and AMD is out of the chipset business.

There's lots of other reasons I could think up as well.

[Jessterw]

Intel was simple a more attractive option at the time and it doesn't stop Apple from moving to AMD should they ever need to.

AMD may be a great choice in the open market PC business, but it would have been a less than so for a company like Apple with the varying needs of its product line.


I'm a little disappointed with the announcements made, but with there being a dearth of applications available as universal binaries, as well as Apple not wanting to cannibalize their existing PowerPC product lines, it all makes sense. The iMac has a nice update, but the MacBook Pro seems like it almost should be the iBook replacement as opposed to that of the PowerBook (note that you can still purchase the PPC iMac and PowerBooks).

I'm most surprised at no announcement for an iPod Shuffle replacement, but that's probably coming in a few months.

[ALBPM]

No confusion necessary. This chip will be a Yonah dual-core, so probably pretty fast while being low-power. Plus, Apple is using Palladium to keep OS X off of non-Apples, and I doubt AMD was ready to support it. Third, Intel can do ALL of the chips if necessary, and AMD is out of the chipset business.

There's lots of other reasons I could think up as well.

Yup, Platforms are what the OEMs want!!!! Processors, chipsets, Flash Memory, Wireless, video - the Works and yes we can provide it all!!!

[Nowhere]

So...does it mean also discounts, meaning new iBooks will be much cheaper?

[Jessterw]

Doubt the prices will come down much, if at all. I can see Apple possibly releasing more models or, rather, base configurations that meet varying price ranges (though not to the extent that, say, Dell does). Regardless, the Intel Mac products line will likely shape up to be quite different than the current ones.

[lecter]

I think I may get that new radio for my iPod...it's cool how it doesn't add any bulk and has on-screen (very beautiful!) controls w/RDS.

The MacBook Pro is nice, but so, soooo expensive...things will be much more interesting when they release some mainstream iBooks

[KvHagedorn]

What does this i- prefix mean? Been wondering since the iMac.